his is the first monograph on Japanese born, Los Angeles–based artist Shio Kusaka (born 1972), who adorns her ceramics with marks, grids, stripes and various scenes, inscribed into the vessels or delineated by color. Her installations combine dozens of these ceramics in quiet but arresting vignettes: Kusaka’s works are also distinguished by their handmade aesthetic, evident in occasional impressions of the artist’s hands and visible glaze drips. "Shio employs the prosaic yet historical clay pot but plays with the idea of difference in repetition," says curator Michelle Grabner.This book is the first in an ongoing series that places the artist’s work against colorful backdrops and features asymmetrical crops and stark cutouts. The publication is designed to be read from right to left, in the Japanese style.